KR20010053405A - Interactive televison program guide system with local advertisements - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a program guide system capable of distributing local advertisements to interactive television program guides executed on user television equipment associated with a television distribution facility, such as a head end of a cable system. Local advertisements include information delivered to specific users within a region. When the user selects the relevant global advertisement, the local advertisement may be displayed. Local ads are automatically displayed by cycling between global and local ads. Ads can be blocked based on content or time shifts. Policies regarding the use of advertisements may be implemented.

Description

Interactive TV program guide system with local advertising {INTERACTIVE TELEVISON PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH LOCAL ADVERTISEMENTS}

Passive television program guides provide a scrolled or paged list of television program listings on dedicated television channels. The television user can view a list of television programs by tuning the television to a dedicated channel. The upper portion of the passivity program guide display is used to display the advertising image and associated textual description. The content of the text description is for a specific area.

Interactive TV program guides allow television users to further improve their display of program listings in a format selected by the user, browse through genres, order pay-per-view, etc. Perform the action. The bidirectional program guide is typically executed in a set-top box mounted with a microprocessor. Program listing data is transferred from the centralized data distribution facility to the set-top box via the user's cable system headend. Program listing data is typically stored in memory in a set-top box and can be accessed by a bidirectional program guide.

United States Patent Application No. 09 / 034,939, filed March 4, 1998, by Knudson et al., United States Patent Application No. 09 / 070,604, filed April 30, 1998, and United States, filed April 30, 1998. As described in US Patent Application No. 09 / 070,700, filed April 30, 1998, issued by Patent Application 09 / 070,555, Boylan, III, etc., an interactive program guide may be used to display an advertisement. This patent application is incorporated herein by reference. Interactive program guide advertisements provide users with useful information about various products and services. For example, an interactive program guide advertisement may be used to promote an upcoming television program. Interactive program guide advertisements may also be used to promote unprogrammed products and services.

Because interactive television program guide advertisements can be distributed nationwide from central facilities, which are suitable for promoting products and services across the country. However, if the interactive program guide advertisements were only distributed nationwide, then as many other useful local advertising information as possible would not be provided to the user.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an interactive television program guide system capable of providing a local program guide advertisement to a user.

The present invention relates to a technique for providing interactive television program guides, and more particularly, interactive television program guides for local advertising.

1 shows a conventional arrangement for providing a passive television program guide channel.

2 shows a display provided by a conventional passive program guide.

3 illustrates a conventional bidirectional program guide data distribution system.

Fig. 4 shows how a conventional program guide displays pay-per-view order information when a user selects a program list in the pay-per-view program list screen of the conventional program guide.

5 is an illustration of an interactive television program guide system for providing local advertising in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 6 illustrates how data can be distributed to multiple television distribution facilities in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates how local advertising data may be distributed from a major facility as part of a global data stream in accordance with the present invention.

8 illustrates a program guide system including a filter for allowing a television distribution facility to pass only local advertisements addressed to the television equipment of a user associated with the television distribution facility.

9 illustrates a program guide system in which a user television equipment is provided such that a filter passes only local advertisements addressed to the user's television equipment.

10 illustrates how local advertisement data can be inserted into a global data stream in accordance with the present invention.

11 illustrates how local advertisements can be inserted into a global data stream of a television distribution facility in accordance with the present invention.

12 shows how a separate regional data stream can be provided when a local advertisement is transmitted from a television distribution facility to user television equipment in accordance with the present invention.

13 illustrates how local advertisements can be provided when a user selects a global advertisement in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 14 illustrates a flow chart step when providing local advertising information to a user as shown in FIG. 13 in accordance with the present invention. FIG.

15 illustrates how global and local ads can be cycled in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 16 shows a flow chart step when displaying a rotated global and local advertisement as shown in FIG. 15 in accordance with the present invention. FIG.

FIG. 17 illustrates a flow chart step when displaying a local advertisement in accordance with the present invention. FIG.

FIG. 18 illustrates a flow chart step when providing a tag based on the content of an advertisement in an advertisement in accordance with the present invention. FIG.

FIG. 19 illustrates a flow chart step when time shifting an advertisement in accordance with the present invention. FIG.

20 illustrates a flow chart step when executing an advertising usage policy in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 21 illustrates a flow chart step when executing an advertising usage policy using policy flags in accordance with the present invention. FIG.

Figure 22 illustrates a flow chart step when executing an advertisement usage policy using a policy message in accordance with the present invention.

The above and other objects of the present invention can be achieved by the principles of the present invention by providing a system for providing local (ie, not entirely) advertisements in interactive television program guides running on user television equipment associated with a television distribution facility. have.

The data of the local advertisement is distributed to the interactive television program guide in several ways. For example, local advertising data may be included in a global data stream sent from a major facility to multiple television distribution facilities. The global data stream may also include global advertising data and program guide data. The television distribution facility distributes the global data stream to user television equipment. The interactive program guide in the user television equipment may extract local advertisement data addressed to the user television equipment or the television distribution facility associated with the user television equipment.

Another approach involves inserting local advertising data into the global data stream. Local advertising data may be inserted as part of the bandwidth of the global data stream reserved for local advertising. Local advertisement data can also be inserted into the global data stream by overwriting any global advertisement. If desired, local advertising data may be sent to user television equipment using a data stream separate from the television distribution facility. This advertising distribution scheme is exemplary. Any suitable form of digital multiplexing can be used to distribute global or local advertisements on a single or multiple data streams.

Local advertisements may be displayed on user television equipment by an interactive television program guide. Each time the user selects the displayed global advertisement, the local advertisement may be displayed. Local advertisements displayed in this manner may include content associated with the content of the selected global advertisement. If desired, the program guide may cycle global and local advertisements on user television equipment. Local advertisements can also be substituted for any global advertisement, if desired.

Other features, features and numerous advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

A typical passive television program guide system 10 is shown in FIG. Data of the television program list, such as channel, title, broadcast time information, and the like, is stored in the program list database 12 in the data transmission facility 14. The promotional image is stored in the promotional image database 16. Advertising text related to the promotional image is stored in the local advertising text database 18. Promotional images are distributed throughout the country across the entire video stream via satellite. Relevant advertising copy is distributed to the global data stream. The program list is also distributed to the global data stream.

The global video and data streams are sent to a number of cable system headends 20. Cable system head-ends are typically in different geographic areas. Each local cable system head-end is equipped with a computer that extracts a list of advertising texts and television programs for that area. Advertisement text appropriate for a region is combined on a single screen with promotional images and on a program listing for that region. The combined screen is provided to cable system subscriber television 22 via cable link 24 on a dedicated television channel. The layout of a typical passive program guide screen is shown in FIG.

The passive program guide system of FIGS. 1 and 2 provides program guide information, promotion information and local advertisement information to the user without requiring the user to have special television equipment in addition to the standard television. However, since the program guide of Figs. 1 and 2 is a passive program guide, it does not provide a bidirectional characteristic to the user.

A typical interactive television program guide system is shown in FIG. Program list information such as a program title, a channel, and a description is stored in the program guide database 26 of the data transmission facility 28. Program listing information is distributed nationwide via a satellite to a number of cable system headends (30). Cable system head-ends 30 are located in different regions throughout the country. Each headend 30 redistributes the program listing information to the set-top box 34 of the user of the headend via the cable link 32. The program listing information is typically distributed to the set-top box 34 using the vertical blanking interval (VBI) of one of the out-of-band channel, the digital in-band channel, or the channel on the cable link 32.

The set-top box 34 has a memory for storing program list information. The set-top box 34 also has a processor that executes the interactive television program guide. The program guide running on each set-top box 34 is suitable for displaying a list of various programs on the associated television 36. For example, a program list for a pay-per-view program can be displayed as shown in the top screen of FIG. 4. If the user selects one of the pay-per-view lists 38, the program guide will display the order information 40 as shown in the lower screen of FIG. 4. Ordering information 40 may include information such as pay-per-view ordering phone number 42 specific to the user's geographic region. Pay-per-view order numbers are distributed nationwide, but each set-top box 34 extracts only pay-per-view order numbers that are appropriate for the user's geographic region.

Although the user can obtain local telephone number information by the arrangement of Figs. 3 and 4, the arrangement of Figs. 3 and 4 cannot provide local advertisement information.

A program guide system 44 according to the invention is shown in FIG. The main facility 46 has a program guide database 48 that stores program guide information, such as pay-per-view order information, television program promotion information, and the like as television program guide listing data. The main facility 46 also has an advertising database 50 for storing advertising information. Information from databases 48 and 50 may be transmitted to a number of television distribution facilities, such as television distribution facility 52, over a communications link such as communication link 53. The link 53 may be a satellite link, a telephone network link, a high speed telephone link, a cable or fiber optic link, a microwave link, a combination of the links, or some other communication path. If a video signal (eg, for advertising and promotional video) must be transmitted over the link 53 in addition to the data signal, a relatively high bandwidth link, such as a satellite link, is typically preferred over a relatively low bandwidth link, such as a telephone line.

The television distribution facility 52 is a facility for distributing television signals to the user, such as cable system head-ends, broadcast distribution facilities, or satellite television distribution facilities.

The program guide information transmitted by the main facility 46 to the television distribution facility 52 includes television program listing data such as program time, channel, title, description, and the like. The transmitted program information includes paid program data such as price information of individual programs and subscription channels, time windows for ordering programs and channels, phone numbers for non-urge orders, and the like.

The advertising information transmitted by the main facility 46 to the television distribution facility 52 may include text, graphics, video advertisements, and the like for various products and services. Global advertisements (eg, national advertisements or advertisements uniformly distributed to any other broad geographic area) may be distributed from main facility 46 to multiple television distribution facilities 52 as shown in FIG. 6. have. Only one television distribution facility 52 is shown in FIG. 5 so that the drawing is not too complicated.

Each television distribution facility 52 distributes an advertisement to a user of associated user television equipment 54 via a communication link 56. If desired, some advertising information may be provided using an advertising database 57 in the television distribution facility 52. For example, local advertising may be provided using an advertising database 57. The advertisement database 57 may also be used to temporarily store national advertisement data sent from the main facility 46. The advertisement database 57 may include a server capable of processing text, graphics, and images.

The user television equipment 54 may be any equipment suitable for providing a television image to a user having sufficient processing power to execute an interactive television program guide. Path 56 may be a cable link, fiber optic link, satellite link, broadcast link, or other suitable link, or a combination of such links. Paths including in-band transmission, vertical blanking interval transmission, out-of-band transmission, digital transmission, analog transmission, cable transmission, satellite transmission, over-the-air transmission, multichannel multipoint distribution service (MMDS) transmission, Any suitable communication method for transmitting data over 56 may be used. The data distribution technique used to distribute data on path 56 depends on the type of information to be distributed. For example, the phrases and graphics may be distributed over out-of-band channels using an out-of-band modulator. Although large amounts of image information may be distributed more effectively using one or more digital channels on path 56, image information may be distributed in the manner of out-of-band channels. Such digital channels can also be used to distribute text and graphics.

Each user has a receiver, which is typically a set-top box, such as set-top box 58, or an advanced television receiver or personal computer television (PC) incorporating circuitry similar to set-top box circuitry therein. / TV), or other suitable television equipment. Data such as program guide data may be periodically distributed to the set-top box. The television distribution facility 52 may also periodically transmit certain information (eg, paid program account information or information related to programs that have been purchased and watched using locally generated authentication technology) to the set-top box 58. .

The main facility 46 preferably has a processor to handle the information distribution task. Each set-top box 58 preferably has a processor to handle tasks related to the execution of the interactive television program guide. The television distribution facility 52 has a processor that handles tasks related to data distribution.

Each set-top box 58 is typically connected to an optional videocassette recorder (VCR) 60 to record selected television programs. Each videocassette recorder 60 is connected to a television 62. To record a program, an interactive television program guide running on the set-top box 58 tunes the set-top box 58 to a particular channel and transmits a control signal to the videocassette (eg, using an infrared transmitter). Send to recorder 60 to cause the recorder to start and stop recording at an appropriate time.

While using the program guide, television program listings, advertisements, and other information may be displayed on television 62. Each set-top box 58, videocassette recorder 60 and television 62 are controlled by one or more remote control means 64 or other suitable user input interface such as a wireless keyboard, mouse, trackball, dedicated key set, etc. do. Conventional remote control means 64 have a cursor key located in the highlight area on the program guide screen and an "OK" or select button to select the highlight item on the screen. Other conventional remote control buttons have function buttons such as record button, channel up / down button, volume control button, numeric keys and the like.

Preferably, communication path 56 has adequate bandwidth for television distribution facility 52 to distribute television programming, program listing information, advertisements, and other information to user's television equipment 54. Multiple television and audio channels (both analog, digital or analog and digital) may be provided to user television equipment 54 via communication path 56. If desired, certain data, such as program listing data, may be distributed at least in part by one or more distribution facilities separate from the television distribution facility 52 using a communication path separate from the communication path 56.

Certain functions, such as purchasing pay-per-view programs or purchasing products or services, require the user television equipment 54 to transmit data through the communication path 56 to the television distribution facility 52. If desired, this data may be transmitted over a telephone line or other separate communication path. If a function such as that provided above is provided using a facility separate from the television distribution facility 52, some communications, including user television equipment 54, may be directly connected to the separate facility.

Users of interactive television program guides can interactively order additional information, products or services. For example, a user may order by selecting an advertisement displayed in a program guide. Such orders may be met by the execution facilities 66 and 68. If desired, an order may be sent directly to an execution facility, such as execution facility 66, via link 70, which may be a telephone link, the Internet, or another suitable communication link. The order may also be sent to the television distribution facility 52 via a link 56 (eg, bidirectional cable), where a billing system of the television distribution facility may be used. After the television distribution facility 52 processes the user's order, the television distribution facility 52 will send the order via the link 72 to the execution facility 68.

Many suitable techniques may be used to distribute images related to advertisements from television distribution facility 52 to user television equipment 54. For example, if each path 56 includes multiple conventional analog television channels, one or more such channels may be used to support multiple digital channels. The bandwidth of each analog channel used to support digital channels can support more than 10 digital channels. If desired, images may be provided from the television distribution device 52 in a continuous looped arrangement on the digital channel. Thereafter, the information provided to the set-top box 58 can be used to determine which digital channel to tune when it is time to display the desired image. For example, if a local advertisement is to be displayed in place of a global advertisement, the set-top box 58 may tune to the digital channel containing the local advertisement at the appropriate time. As an alternative, the image may be provided by the television distribution facility 52 immediately upon request. In this way, set-top box 58 and television distribution facility 52 may process to determine the channel to provide the desired image. The images generated from the main facility 46, the separate facility or the television distribution facility 52 (eg, the images generated from the advertising database 57) can be used to display the user television equipment 54 using the techniques described above or other suitable techniques. Can be distributed to. If desired, images and other information may be distributed to user television equipment 54 using a server located at a network node between television distribution facility 52 and user television equipment 54.

The advertising graphical information may be downloaded periodically from the television distribution facility 52 to the user television equipment 54 (eg, once every 10 minutes or once a day). Graphical information can be accessed locally if the program guide requires it. Alternatively, graphical information may be provided in a continuous looped arrangement on one or more digital channels on path 56. With this continuous looped arrangement, a map representing the location of the final graphical information is preferably downloaded to the set-top box 58 periodically (eg once a day). This updates the content on the digital channel. The program guide on the set-top box 58 may use a map to locate the desired graphical information on the digital channel. Another method includes using the advertising database 57 to provide graphical information after the set-top box 58 and the television distribution facility 52 have determined to set up the download operation. A bitmap or other suitable set of graphical information can be downloaded from the advertising database into the set-top box. If desired, the television distribution facility 52 may download a command to indicate a set-top box that may place the desired graphical information on a particular digital channel. When the user television equipment 54 is informed of the current position of the graphic information, the graphic information can be updated periodically.

The advertising text information can be distributed to the user television equipment 54 using the same path used by the program guide data distributed from the television distribution facility 52. For example, the advertising data may be distributed through out-of-band channels on path 56. Character information may be stored locally in set-top box 58 and updated periodically (eg, once a day).

Commercial images, graphics, and text may also be distributed from television distribution facility 52 to user television equipment 54 using any combination of the above techniques or any other suitable technique.

The television distribution facility 52 distributes both global and local advertisements to the user television equipment 54. Global advertisements are advertisements that are distributed evenly across a nationwide advertisement or any other wide geographic area. A typical global advertisement may be a particular brand of automobile advertisement, since the same vehicle is typically available nationwide. Local advertising is advertising that is generally tailored to a particular province or group of users. Examples of typical provinces where local advertising may be provided include cities, metropolitan areas, states, regions of various states (eg, New England), and the like. A typical regional advertisement for one such area may be for a car dealership, since the car dealership generally supplies cars only to certain areas. An example of a specific group of users for whom local advertising may be provided is a user group related to the entire cable system of a given cable system operator. A typical local advertisement for this type of group could be a new cable system channel or a proposal for sales promotion.

The global advertisement is preferably distributed in parallel to all television distribution facilities 52 in the whole area. For example, if the television distribution facility 52 is a cable system head-end or a group of head-ends in several locations throughout the country, and the link 53 is a satellite link, the national advertisement of the car is substantially the same, for example, via satellite. In time, thousands of cable system head-ends will be transmitted. This wide scale distribution effectively uses the parallel data distribution capabilities of system 44. However, the parallel distribution of the entire data via satellite is just one example of how global advertising data can be distributed. Other suitable data distribution methods are serial data distribution schemes and distribution schemes using other forms of communication link 53 that may be used as desired.

Local advertisements may be provided to television distribution facility 52 for redistribution to user equipment 54 using a number of different technologies. As shown in FIG. 7, local advertising data 74 may be transmitted from main facility 46 to television distribution facility 52 as part of the same global data stream that transmits global advertising data 76. The local advertisement data for each local advertisement has an associated address 78. Each address 78 defines a destination of a local advertisement associated with the address. The destination is typically an area of a geographic area, such as a city or state, but is intended for the entire cable system operated by the same cable system operator, for all households with a given income class (eg, ZIP code information or other suitable resources). Or other suitable criteria for defining the destination as a whole, but not in a geographic form.

Other data 80, such as program listing data, may also be sent into the global data stream. This type of distribution scheme may be most appropriate for local advertisements containing text and graphics, although local advertisements containing images may be distributed in the above manner as desired.

As shown in FIG. 8, each television distribution facility, such as the television distribution facility 52, is provided with a corresponding local advertisement filter 82. As shown in FIG. When the main facility 46 sends the global data stream of FIG. 7 to the television distribution facility 52, the filter 82 addresses the area where the television distribution facility 52 and the user television equipment 54 associated with the facility are located. Local advertisements are extracted from data streams that have been set up or addressed to groups of users associated with television distribution facility 52. Thus, the user is provided with a local advertisement that fits the user's geographic location (such as when the advertisement is addressed to all cable subscribers of each cable system operator) or to a group designated as a local advertisement recipient.

As shown in FIG. 9, filtering can be accomplished using a filter 84 located in the user television equipment. In the arrangement of FIG. 9, the set-top box 58 of FIG. 5 or such other device within each user's user television equipment 54 filters out everything but local advertisements addressed to the user's user television equipment 54. .

If desired, the filter may be used in both the television distribution facility 52 and the user television equipment 54. In this arrangement, the filters at each television distribution facility 52 may provide a first layer of filtering, and the filters at the user's television equipment 54 associated with each television distribution facility 52 may be a second layer of filtering. Layers may be provided.

Another method of providing a local advertisement to a user is shown in FIG. As shown in the upper data stream of FIG. 10, the global data stream transmitted from the main facility 46 to the television distribution facility 52 may include other data 86, such as global advertising data 82 and program guide data. Can be. Some of the bandwidth of the global data stream may be reserved for the insertion of accompanying local advertising data. For example, slots such as slot 88 may be left for data insertion. Local advertisement data is inserted into the slot 88 of the television distribution facility 52. Local advertisement data can also be inserted into the global data stream by overwriting an existing global advertisement. After the local advertisement is inserted into the global data stream, the television distribution facility 52 may send the bottom data stream of FIG. 10 to the user television equipment 54 as shown in FIG. 11. As shown in the lower stream of FIG. 10, local advertising data 90 is inserted by overwriting global advertising data 84, and local advertising data 92 is inserted into slot 88 that is reserved for insertion of local advertising. Is inserted. Since local advertisements are inserted into the data stream at the television distribution facility 52, the local advertisements provided to the user television equipment 54 associated with the television distribution facility 52 are appropriate for the geographical area of the user, and the local advertisements are If assigned to all users in the area, it should generally not be filtered out of user television equipment 54. If a local advertisement is assigned to a specific portion of the user (eg, all users of a particular demographic characteristic, such as a given income level) within the geographic area, additional filtering may be used on the user television equipment 54. If desired, local advertisements may be provided to the user in a separate data stream transmitted simultaneously with the global data stream from the television distribution facility, as shown in FIG.

11 and 12 show how a computer 94 in a television distribution facility can be used to provide local data. The computer 94 may be used to execute or manage an advertising database, such as the advertising database 57 of FIG. 5. Local advertisements may be retrieved by computer 94 from advertisement database 57 when needed to transmit to user television equipment 54.

Program guides executed on user television equipment 54 may provide local advertising to users in a variety of different ways. For example, the program guide may initially display a program guide screen, such as the program guide screen 95 shown as the top screen in FIG. The program guide screen 95 includes a program listing area 96 having a grid, list or program listing table. The program guide screen 95 also includes a logo 98 and a global panel advertisement 100. For example, a user can select one of the global advertisements 100 by placing a highlight, such as highlight 102, on the desired advertisement using the remote control cursor keys and pressing the Select or OK remote control button. In response, the program guide may display the associated local advertisement 104 as shown in the bottom screen of FIG. 13.

FIG. 14 illustrates steps comprising providing a local advertisement 104 of FIG. 13 to a user. In step 106, the program guide displays the global advertisement within the program guide on the appropriate program guide display screen. In step 108, the program guide gives the user the opportunity to select a global advertisement. In step 110, after the user selects the desired global advertisement, the program guide displays a corresponding local advertisement having content that may be related to the content of the selected global advertisement.

Another arrangement for displaying a local advertisement is shown in FIG. 15. The upper program guide screen of FIG. 15 includes a program listing area 112 and global banner advertisements 114 and 116. Periodically, local advertisements are displayed in place of global banner advertisements. For example, a local advertisement 118 is displayed in place of the global advertisement 116 as shown in the lower program guide screen of FIG. 15. If desired, the content of local advertisement 118 may be related to the content of global advertisement 116.

FIG. 16 illustrates a step comprising displaying a local advertisement using the arrangement of FIG. 15. In step 120, the program guide displays a global advertisement. In step 122, the program guide displays a local advertisement. Local advertisements may be displayed in place of global advertisements as shown in FIG. 15. At step 124, the cycle is repeated (ie, global advertisement 116 is displayed in place of local advertisement 118 in FIG. 15). Alternatively, other advertisements (global or local) may be displayed at step 124.

The arrangement of FIGS. 13 and 15 is merely illustrative. Any suitable arrangement can be used to display local advertisements. For example, it is not necessary to display local advertisements along with global advertisements. Local advertisements may be displayed completely alone (eg, according to a predetermined schedule or other suitable arrangement). Moreover, the global or local advertisement may be displayed in any desired form, including the panel advertisement form of FIG. 13, the banner advertisement form of FIG. 15, or another suitable form. Both global and local advertisements can be selected.

If both of these global and local advertisements can be selected, the user may be offered the opportunity to purchase the advertised product or service. The user can place an order for a product by selecting an advertisement, request a catalog by selecting an advertisement, create a coupon by selecting an advertisement, request a call from a salesperson by selecting an advertisement, The choices may be to ask for information about how to contact the salesperson of the local store. This example is for illustration only. If desired, any form of product or service may be promoted or ordered using selectable advertisements.

The user may also be offered the opportunity to purchase the program by selecting an advertisement. For example, a user may be offered an opportunity to impulse purchase a pay-per-view program. The user is also provided with the opportunity to purchase a video-on-demand program or a near-vidio-on-demand program. This example is illustrative. If desired, the user can purchase the appropriate type of program by selecting a selectable advertisement.

In addition, when the user selects a selectable advertisement of the program, the user is provided with an opportunity to set a reminder for the particular program. When the user selects a selectable advertisement, the program guide may also take other actions within the program guide. For example, when a user selects an advertisement for a given program, the program guide may record the given program. These examples are illustrative, and the program guide may be instructed to take any appropriate action within the program guide when the user selects a selectable advertisement.

As shown in FIG. 15, the local advertisement may be displayed while there is no corresponding global advertisement (step 126). This form of local advertising may be suitable for advertising a business (eg, Joe's Pizza Shop) that has a small geographic area of interest. If you want to advertise a product or service that is very appealing across the country, but you have a corresponding aspect that demands more localized promotions (eg, if you are asked to promote multiple dealerships for auto brand advertising), The appropriate global advertisement may then be displayed in step 128 and the corresponding local advertisement may be displayed by the program guide in step 130 (the user then selects the global advertisement, for example).

Another aspect of the invention relates to providing a content tag in an advertisement so that a user or operator of a television distribution facility may block certain advertisements based on the content. Such blocking can be useful when certain advertisements (eg, advertisements for adult programs) compromise the sensitivity of a particular user or community. As shown in FIG. 18, the advertisement may be provided with a content tag in step 132 (eg, in the advertisement database 50 in the main facility 46). Suitable content tags include tags for graphic language, violence, and sexual content. If desired, a genre tag may be provided (eg, the tag may identify the content of the advertisement by programming the genre such as comedy, sports, movie, etc.). The tag may also be provided to identify the content of the advertisement by objects such as home improvement, automobiles, clothing, sports equipment, shoes, photographs, electronics, musical instruments, books, and the like.

In step 134, the advertisement with the content tag is distributed by the system 53. Ads with undesirable content are blocked at step 136. If desired, appropriate global advertisements, local advertisements or back-up messages (eg, blank screens or advertisements for service providers) may be displayed in place of advertisements blocked by the program guide in step 138. . Advertisements displayed in lieu of blocked advertisements that are considered annoying contain unobtrusive content.

Dispensing and blocking of steps 134 and 136 is performed using any suitable apparatus. For example, advertisements with content tags may be distributed to user television equipment 54 in one or more data streams by main facility 46 and television distribution facility 52, and unwanted advertisements may be distributed to user television equipment 54. Can be filtered from this data stream or stream. Another method is for a television distribution facility 52 that performs filtering of unwanted advertisements. This method is only illustrative. If desired, any suitable method can be used to block content-based advertising. For example, user television equipment may be based on keyword searches (e.g., for the words graphical language in advertising text or for words based on items of interest) rather than relying on content tags supplied by the main facility 46. You can block ads.

In step 140, a user, system operator, or other entity may select criteria for the blocking (filtering) decision to use in step 136. For example, the system operator may block all advertisements for adult programs. The user can block all advertisements with a graphical language. By selecting the electronic device category by the user, advertisements for the electronic device are selectively displayed. If the user selects a category, such as an electronic device category, then in step 136 all advertisements are blocked except for advertisements with content related to the electronic device (as indicated by content tags, keyword searches, or other suitable techniques).

Another aspect of the invention relates to the time movement of a given advertisement. In some situations it is desirable to time-shift the advertisement, so that the advertisement can be delivered more advantageously to the intended viewer. For example, a networked television program would be broadcast at 8:00 pm Eastern Time and at 7:00 pm Mountain Time (even if Eastern Time and Mountain Time are separate time zones). If the advertisement is distributed nationwide via airwaves just before 8:00 pm ET (eg 7:55 pm EST), the advertisement will be available at 5:55 pm EST (if no time shift). Will be broadcast. A 5:55 pm advertisement for a 7:00 pm TV program is not desirable because it is not as effective as a 6:55 pm advertisement for a 7:00 pm TV program. Therefore, in such a situation, it would be desirable to postpone (time shift) the display of the 5:55 PM MT standard time to 6:55 PM MT.

19 includes a step including ad time shift. In step 142, the global advertisement is distributed. In the time zone as described above, it is desirable to time-shift a given global advertisement, and the advertisement is temporarily stored at step 144 (eg, to the advertisement database 57 in the television distribution facility 52). Elsewhere, the global advertisement is displayed normally. In step 146, the time shifted advertisement is displayed by the program guide (e.g., the time shifted advertisement is transmitted from the advertising database 57 in the television distribution facility 52 to the user television equipment 54 and the television 62 Displayed on the program guide).

Another aspect of the invention relates to implementing a policy relating to the usage of advertising by television distribution facility 52. For example, it is desirable to prevent the television distribution facility 52 from moving certain advertisements in time. It is also desirable to prevent the television distribution facility 52 from changing a given advertisement (eg, by overwriting the advertisement or by providing a corresponding local advertisement).

As shown in FIG. 20, system 44 facilitates enforcement of an advertisement usage policy by providing advertisements with information defining how such advertisements may be used (ie, advertisement usage information) in step 148. can do. When the television distribution facility 52 attempts to time-shift a given advertisement or change a given advertisement (e.g., by overwriting such advertisement or by providing a corresponding local advertisement), the advertisement usage policy is changed in step 150. Can be implemented.

One example method for performing the steps of FIG. 20 is shown in FIG. 21. In step 152, a usage policy flag is provided to the advertisement (eg, in the advertisement database 50 of the main facility 46). The policy flag indicates how the advertisement can be used (eg, whether the advertisement can be time shifted or can be overwritten or changed by providing a corresponding local advertisement). In step 154, the advertisement with the usage policy flag is distributed to the television distribution facility 52. In step 156, the television distribution facility 52 distributes the advertisement for display by the program guide on the user television equipment 54 in accordance with the advertisement usage policy defined by the policy flag. For example, if an advertisement has an accompanying policy flag indicating that it does not have to be time-shifted for that advertisement, it would require that the television distribution facility 52 time-shift the advertisement that does not allow this time-shifting operation to be performed. , The advertisement would normally be distributed to user television equipment 54.

Another method for carrying out the steps of FIG. 20 is shown in FIG. 22. In step 158, the main facility 46 distributes to the television distribution facility 52 an advertisement usage policy message that defines usage policies for the various advertisements. In step 160, the television distribution facility 52 distributes the advertisements to be displayed by the program guide on the user television facility 54 in accordance with the advertisement usage policy defined by the policy message. For example, if the policy message indicates that the advertisement was not time-shifted, the television distribution facility 52 would require another way to time-shift the advertisement that does not allow to perform this time-shifting operation, but the advertisement may not be time-shifted. 54 will be normally distributed.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the principles of the invention, and various changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (74)

A system for distributing local advertising to user television equipment on which interactive television program guides are executed, Means for distributing the local advertisement to the user television equipment; Means for displaying the local advertisement using the interactive television program guide. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for distributing local advertisements further comprises means for transmitting the local advertisements from a television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for distributing local advertisements further comprises means for transmitting the local advertisements to the television distribution facility that are part of a global data stream. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for distributing local advertisements further comprises means for transmitting the local advertisements to the television distribution facility that are part of a global data stream comprising global advertisements. The method of claim 1 wherein the means for distributing local advertisements is Means for transmitting the local advertisement, which is part of a global data stream, to a television distribution facility; Means for transmitting the local advertisement from the television distribution facility to the user's television equipment. The method of claim 1 wherein the means for distributing local advertisements is Means for transmitting the global data stream to a television distribution facility, Means for inserting the local advertisement into the global data stream at the television distribution facility; Means for transmitting the local advertisement that is part of the global data stream from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The method of claim 1 wherein the means for distributing local advertisements is Means for transmitting a global data stream containing global advertising to a television distribution facility; Means for inserting the local advertisement into the global data stream at the television distribution facility; Means for transmitting the local advertisement that is part of the global data stream from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The method of claim 1 wherein the means for distributing local advertisements is Means for transmitting a global data stream containing global advertising to a television distribution facility; Means for inserting the local advertisement into the global data stream by overwriting the global advertisement in the television distribution facility; Means for transmitting the local advertisement that is part of the global data stream from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The method of claim 1 wherein the means for distributing local advertisements is Means for transmitting a global data stream to the television distribution facility having the bandwidth left for local advertising, Means for inserting the local advertisement into the global data stream within the remaining bandwidth at the television distribution facility; Means for transmitting the local advertisement that is part of the global data stream from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The method of claim 1 wherein the means for distributing local advertisements is Means for transmitting a global data stream having a slot reserved for local advertising to a television distribution facility; Means for inserting the local advertisement into the global data stream in the leftover slot at the television distribution facility; Means for transmitting the local advertisement that is part of the global data stream from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The method of claim 1 wherein the means for distributing local advertisements is Means for transmitting a global data stream to a television distribution facility having global advertising and having bandwidth reserved for local advertising; Means for inserting the local advertisement into the global data stream within the remaining bandwidth at the television distribution facility; Means for transmitting the local advertisement and the global advertisement that are part of the global data stream from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The method of claim 1 wherein the means for distributing local advertisements is Means for transmitting a global data stream with global advertising to a television distribution facility; Means for transmitting the global data stream from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment; Means for transmitting the local advertisement from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment, the data stream being separate from the global data stream. The method of claim 1 wherein the means for distributing local advertisements is Means for transmitting a global advertisement to a television distribution facility, Means for providing the local advertisement to the television distribution facility; Means for transmitting the global advertisement and the local advertisement from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The method of claim 1 wherein the means for distributing local advertisements is Means for transmitting global advertising and program guide information to a television distribution facility, Means for providing the local advertisement to the television distribution facility; Means for transmitting the program guide information, the global advertisement, and the local advertisement from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The method of claim 1, wherein the program guide data and global advertisements are stored at a major facility and the means for distributing the local advertisements is Means for transmitting the program guide data and the global advertisement from the main facility to a television distribution facility; Means for providing the local advertisement to the television distribution facility; Means for transmitting the program guide data, the global advertisement, and the local advertisement from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the means for displaying the local advertisement as the interactive television program guide includes: Means for displaying a global advertisement that can be selected by a user as the interactive television program guide, And each time the user selects the global advertisement, means for displaying a corresponding local advertisement having content related to the content of the global advertisement. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the means for displaying the local advertisement as the interactive television program guide includes: Means for displaying a global advertisement that can be selected by a user as the interactive television program guide, And each time the user selects the global advertisement, means for displaying a corresponding full screen local advertisement. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the means for displaying the local advertisement as the interactive television program guide includes: Means for displaying a global advertisement as said interactive television program guide, Means for cycling the display of the global advertisement and the local advertisement. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the means for displaying the local advertisement as the interactive television program guide includes: Means for displaying a global banner advertisement as said interactive television program guide; Means for cycling the display of the global banner advertisement and the local advertisement. The system of claim 1 further comprising means for displaying a global advertisement with the interactive television program guide. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for displaying a program listing area with the interactive television program guide. The method of claim 1, Means for displaying a global advertisement with said interactive television program guide; Means for displaying a program listing area. The method of claim 1 wherein the means for distributing local advertisements is Means for transmitting global advertising and program guide information to a television distribution facility, Means for providing local advertising to the television distribution facility; Means for transmitting the program guide information, the global advertisement, and the local advertisement from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment; Means for displaying the global advertisement with the interactive television program guide; And means for displaying a program listing area containing the program guide information as the interactive television program guide. A method of using a system in which local advertising is distributed to user television equipment on which interactive television program guides are executed, Distributing the local advertisement to the user television equipment; Displaying the local advertisement with the interactive television program guide. 25. The method of claim 24, wherein distributing the local advertisement further comprises transmitting the local advertisement from a television distribution facility to the user television equipment. 25. The method of claim 24, wherein distributing the local advertisement further comprises transmitting the local advertisement to a television distribution facility that is part of a global data stream. 25. The method of claim 24, wherein distributing the local advertisement further comprises transmitting the local advertisement to the television distribution facility that is part of a global data stream comprising the global advertisement. The method of claim 24, wherein distributing the local advertisement is Transmitting the local advertisement that is part of a global data stream to a television distribution facility; Transmitting the local advertisement from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The method of claim 24, wherein distributing the local advertisement is Transmitting the global data stream to a television distribution facility; Inserting the local advertisement into the global data stream at the television distribution facility; Transmitting the local advertisement that is part of the global data stream from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The method of claim 24, wherein distributing the local advertisement is Transmitting a global data stream comprising global advertising to a television distribution facility; Inserting the local advertisement into the global data stream at the television distribution facility; Transmitting the local advertisement that is part of the global data stream from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The method of claim 24, wherein distributing the local advertisement is Transmitting a global data stream comprising global advertising to a television distribution facility; Inserting the local advertisement into the global data stream by overwriting the global advertisement in the television distribution facility; Transmitting the local advertisement that is part of the global data stream from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The method of claim 24, wherein distributing the local advertisement is Transmitting a global data stream to the television distribution facility, including the bandwidth left for local advertising, Inserting the local advertisement into the global data stream within the remaining bandwidth at the television distribution facility; Transmitting the local advertisement that is part of the global data stream from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The method of claim 24, wherein distributing the local advertisement is Transmitting a global data stream having a slot reserved for local advertising to a television distribution facility; Inserting the local advertisement into the global data stream in the leftover slot at the television distribution facility; Transmitting the local advertisement that is part of the global data stream from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The method of claim 24, wherein distributing the local advertisement is Transmitting a global data stream to a television distribution facility having a global advertisement and having bandwidth reserved for local advertisements; Inserting the local advertisement into the global data stream within the remaining bandwidth at the television distribution facility; Transmitting the local advertisement and the global advertisement that are part of the global data stream from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The method of claim 24, wherein distributing the local advertisement is Transmitting a global data stream with global advertising to a television distribution facility; Transmitting the global data stream from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment; Sending the local advertisement from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment, the data stream being a separate data stream from the global data stream. The method of claim 24, wherein distributing the local advertisement is Sending the global advertisement to a television distribution facility, Providing the local advertisement to the television distribution facility; Transmitting the global advertisement and the local advertisement from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The method of claim 24, wherein distributing the local advertisement is Transmitting global advertisement and program guide information to a television distribution facility, Providing the local advertisement to the television distribution facility; Transmitting the program guide information, the global advertisement, and the local advertisement from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the program guide data and global advertisements are stored at a major facility and wherein distributing the local advertisements is Transmitting the program guide and the global advertisement from the main facility to a television distribution facility; Providing the local advertisement to the television distribution facility; Transmitting the program guide data, the global advertisement, and the local advertisement from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment. The method of claim 24, wherein displaying the local advertisement with the interactive television program guide includes: Displaying a global advertisement that can be selected by a user with the interactive television program guide; Whenever the user selects the global advertisement, displaying the corresponding local advertisement having content related to the content of the global advertisement. The method of claim 24, wherein displaying the local advertisement with the interactive television program guide includes: Displaying a global advertisement that can be selected by a user with the interactive television program guide; Displaying a corresponding full screen local advertisement each time the user selects the global advertisement. The method of claim 24, wherein displaying the local advertisement with the interactive television program guide includes: Displaying a global advertisement with said interactive television program guide; Cycling the display of the global advertisement and the local advertisement. The method of claim 24, wherein displaying the local advertisement with the interactive television program guide includes: Displaying a global banner advertisement with the interactive television program guide; Cycling the display of the global banner advertisement and the local advertisement. 25. The method of claim 24, further comprising displaying a global advertisement with the interactive television program guide. 25. The method of claim 24, further comprising displaying a program listing area with the interactive television program guide. The method of claim 24, Displaying a global advertisement with said interactive television program guide; Displaying a program listing area with the interactive television program guide. The method of claim 24, wherein distributing the local advertisement is Transmitting global advertisement and program guide information to a television distribution facility, Providing the local advertisement to the television distribution facility; Transmitting the program guide information, the global advertisement, and the local advertisement from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment; Displaying the global advertisement with the interactive television program guide; Displaying the program listing area containing the program guide information as the interactive television program guide. A system for distributing advertisements to user television equipment on which an interactive television program guide is executed, Means for distributing the advertisement to the user television equipment; Means for displaying only a portion of the advertisement on the user television equipment as the interactive television program guide based on the content of the advertisement. 48. The system of claim 47, further comprising means for providing a content tag indicative of the content of the advertisement. The method of claim 47, Means for providing a content tag indicating the content of the advertisement to the advertisement; Means for displaying only an advertisement having a desired content tag. 48. The system of claim 47, further comprising means for selecting blocking criteria that can be used to determine the advertisement to be displayed. 48. The system of claim 47, further comprising means for distributing an advertisement having a content tag. 48. The system of claim 47, further comprising means for blocking advertisements having unwanted content tags. 48. The system of claim 47, further comprising means for displaying information in place of an advertisement that is not displayed based on the content of the advertisement. 48. The system of claim 47, further comprising means for displaying back-up advertisements instead of non-displayed advertisements based on the content of the advertisements. A method of using a system for distributing advertisements to user television equipment on which interactive television program guides are executed, Distributing the advertisement to the user television equipment; Displaying only a portion of the advertisement on the user television equipment as the interactive television program guide based on the content of the advertisement. 56. The method of claim 55, further comprising providing a content tag that indicates the content of the advertisement to the advertisement. The method of claim 55, Providing a content tag indicating the content of the advertisement to the advertisement; Displaying only advertisements with desired content tags. 56. The method of claim 55, further comprising selecting blocking criteria that can be used to determine the advertisement to be displayed. 56. The method of claim 55 further comprising distributing an advertisement having a content tag. 56. The method of claim 55, further comprising blocking ads with unwanted content tags. 56. The method of claim 55, further comprising displaying information in place of an advertisement that is not displayed based on the content of the advertisement. 56. The method of claim 55, further comprising displaying a back-up advertisement instead of the non-displayed advertisement based on the content of the advertisement. A system using a television distribution facility to distribute an advertisement to user television equipment on which an interactive television program guide is implemented, Means for distributing advertisements to the television distribution facility; Means for time-shifting only a portion of the advertisement using the television distribution facility; Means for displaying the time shifted advertisement with the interactive television program guide. A method of using a system in which a television distribution facility is used to distribute an advertisement to user television equipment on which an interactive television program guide is implemented, the method comprising: Distributing an advertisement to said television distribution facility, Time-shifting only a portion of the commercial using the television distribution facility; Displaying the time shifted advertisement with the interactive television program guide. A system in which a television distribution facility is used to distribute an advertisement to user television equipment on which an interactive television program guide is executed, Means for providing advertisement usage information to the advertisement; Means for enforcing an advertisement usage policy on the television distribution facility based on the advertisement usage information. 67. The system of claim 65, wherein said means for providing said advertisement usage information to said advertisement comprises means for providing a usage policy flag to said advertisement at a primary facility. 67. The system of claim 65 wherein the means for enforcing the advertisement usage policy comprises means for distributing and displaying advertisements in accordance with a policy flag. 66. The system of claim 65, wherein said means for providing said advertisement usage information to said advertisement comprises means for distributing an advertisement usage policy message to said television distribution facility. 66. The system of claim 65 wherein the means for enforcing the advertisement usage policy comprises means for distributing and displaying advertisements in accordance with an advertisement usage policy message. A method of using a system in which a television distribution facility is used to distribute an advertisement to user television equipment on which an interactive television program guide is implemented, the method comprising: Providing advertisement usage information to the advertisement; And executing an advertisement usage policy at the television distribution facility based on the advertisement usage information. 71. The method of claim 70, wherein providing the advertisement usage information to the advertisement comprises providing a usage policy flag to the advertisement at a primary facility. 71. The method of claim 70, wherein executing the advertisement usage policy comprises distributing and displaying advertisements in accordance with a policy flag. 71. The method of claim 70, wherein providing the advertisement usage information to the advertisement comprises distributing an advertisement usage policy message to the television distribution facility. 71. The method of claim 70, wherein executing the advertisement usage policy comprises distributing and displaying an advertisement in accordance with the advertisement usage policy message.